HOPKINTON, N.H. - Saint Michael's College women's cross country junior Fran Peterson (Barron, Wis./Barron) posted the second-best 5K time in program history and was the fastest non-Division I runner during a 20th-place performance at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Championship on Friday at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds. The meet, which dates back to 1912, was run as part of the Hopkinton Cross Country Festival.
 
TEAM RESULTS

• The Purple and Gold men were third in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) East Region poll.
• The fields featured eight regionally-ranked NCAA Division I, II and III squads in both races, including the Providence College women, who were ranked 28th nationally in Division I this week.
• The men took 15th out of 28 schools with 432 points, behind only 12 Division I schools, nationally-ranked Division III Tufts University, and regionally-ranked Division III Bowdoin College. Division I University of Rhode Island (60) took the team title.
• Saint Michael's was 49 points short of Division I Quinnipiac University and 54 away from regionally-ranked Division I University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The Purple Knights finished ahead of such teams as: 16th-place Bentley University (482), which is 10th in the USTFCCCA Division II East Region rankings; 17th-place Division I University of New Haven (494); 18th-place Southern New Hampshire University (543), which is ninth in the East; 20th-place Division I Bryant University (586); and 24th-place Assumption University (718), which was sixth in the East poll this week.
• The Purple Knight women took 15th among 28 schools with 451 points, as Division I teams took each of the first eight spots, and 12 of the top 14. Only nationally-ranked Division III Tufts and regionally-ranked Division III Bowdoin broke the Division I stranglehold among the top 14. Providence won with 67 points.
• Among the teams unranked Saint Michael's bested: 16th-place Bentley (478), which is 10th in the USTFCCCA Division II East Region poll; 17th-place Division I University of Vermont (486); 18th-place Saint Anselm College (555), which is fourth in the East; 19th-place Southern New Hampshire (576), which is ninth in the East; and 22nd-place Division I New Haven (624). The Purple Knights finished only 61 points short of Brown University, which is ranked 11th in the Division I Northeast.

WOMEN'S LEADERS

• Peterson
  • 20th of 281 finishers in 5K, 18:19.54 (PR)
  • Second-fastest 5K in program history, short only of Gabrielle Naranja's '14 time of 18:15 on Oct. 23, 2011
  • Fastest non-Division I finisher
  • Dropped nearly 33 seconds from prior PR of 18:52.24 on Oct. 13, 2023, also at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds
  • Also set 6K PR last week at Paul Short Run
• Sophomore Jersey Miller (Minneapolis, Minn./Saint Louis Park)
  • 38th, 18:37.82 (PR)
  • Second non-Division I finisher
  • Only 2.82 seconds short of program's all-time top five 5K times
• Junior Rylee Burnham (Hartland, Vt./Hartford)
  • 178th, 20:28.68 (PR)
• Junior Meredith Reilly (Ashland, Mass./Ashland)
  • 210th, 21:03.12 (PR)
• Sophomore Kendra Heath (Portland, Ore./Rex Putnam)
  • 218th, 21:13.38 (PR)
• Junior Kayley Bell (Caribou, Maine/Caribou)
  • 227th, 21:27.35
• Senior Jocelyn Sommers (Dalton, Mass./Wahconah Regional)
  • 230th, 21:33.12 (PR)

MEN'S LEADERS

• Senior Braden Butler (South Berwick, Maine/Marshwood)
  • 84th of 257 finishers in 8K, 25:57.02 (PR)
  • Dropped 27.2 seconds from a PR he set just last Friday
  • Second-fastest Northeast 10 Conference finisher
• Junior Andrew Scanio (Lake Placid, N.Y./Lake Placid)
  • 90th, 26:04.03 (PR)
  • Dropped 11.2 seconds from PR, set on Oct. 13, 2023, at same venue
• First-year Josh Pelletier (North Andover, Mass./North Andover)
  • 114th, 26:21.28 (PR)
  • Cut 43.22 seconds from last week's PR
• First-year Pierce Coughlin (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee)
  • 123rd, 26:30.57 (PR)
  • Trimmed 42.13 seconds from last week's PR
• Junior Adam Bilodeau (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston)
  • 130th, 26:36.32 (PR)
  • Dropped 27.08 seconds from last week's PR
• Sophomore Cooper Brennan (Wilton, N.Y./South Glens Falls)
  • 154th, 26:57.45 (PR)
• Sophomore Taggart Schrader (East Montpelier, Vt./U-32)
  • 161st, 27:06.91 (PR)

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MEET

• Oct. 26 at NE10 Championship at Saint Anselm College.
• The women run at 11 a.m. before the men begin at 12:15 p.m.